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Charles Bradley

F1 qualifying results: Sergio Perez takes Saudi Arabian GP pole

Perez will start ahead of Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and George Russell (Mercedes) after the one-hour qualifying session, which was split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix qualifying results: Perez on pole from Alonso

Cla Driver Time Gap km/h
1 Mexico Sergio Perez 1'28.265   251.814
2 Spain Fernando Alonso 1'28.730 0.465 250.494
3 United Kingdom George Russell 1'28.857 0.592 250.136
4 Spain Carlos Sainz 1'28.931 0.666 249.928
5 Canada Lance Stroll 1'28.945 0.680 249.889
6 France Esteban Ocon 1'29.078 0.813 249.516
7 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 1'29.223 0.958 249.110
8 Australia Oscar Piastri 1'29.243 0.978 249.054
9 France Pierre Gasly 1'29.357 1.092 248.737
10 Germany Nico Hulkenberg 1'29.451 1.186 248.475
11 China Zhou Guanyu 1'29.461 1.196 248.447
12 Monaco Charles Leclerc 1'28.420 0.155 251.372
13 Denmark Kevin Magnussen 1'29.517 1.252 248.292
14 Finland Valtteri Bottas 1'29.668 1.403 247.874
15 Netherlands Max Verstappen 1'49.953 21.688 202.144
16 Japan Yuki Tsunoda 1'29.939 1.674 247.127
17 Thailand Alex Albon 1'29.994 1.729 246.976
18 Netherlands Nyck de Vries 1'30.244 1.979 246.292
19 United Kingdom Lando Norris 1'30.447 2.182 245.739
20 United States Logan Sargeant 2'08.510 40.245 172.954

What happened in Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Q1?

Perez set the early pace at 1m29.261s, as Nyck de Vries (AlphaTauri) had a huge spin on his first attempt. Verstappen then unleashed a 1m28.761s to beat his team-mate to the top spot by half a second for P1.

McLaren’s Lando Norris hit the wall on the inside of the final corner, sending him into the pits with steering and suspension damage, while Alonso spun at Turn 2 before going third quickest. Logan Sargeant rotated his Williams at the high speed in Turn 22 too, amazingly without hitting the wall.

Falling at the first hurdle were Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Alex Albon (Williams), de Vries, Norris and Sargeant.

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Q1 results: Verstappen fastest from Perez

Cla Driver Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen 1'28.761     250.407
2 Mexico Sergio Perez 1'29.244 0.483 0.483 249.052
3 Spain Fernando Alonso 1'29.298 0.537 0.054 248.901
4 Canada Lance Stroll 1'29.335 0.574 0.037 248.798
5 Monaco Charles Leclerc 1'29.376 0.615 0.041 248.684
6 Spain Carlos Sainz 1'29.411 0.650 0.035 248.586
7 Germany Nico Hulkenberg 1'29.547 0.786 0.136 248.209
8 United Kingdom George Russell 1'29.592 0.831 0.045 248.084
9 China Zhou Guanyu 1'29.654 0.893 0.062 247.913
10 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 1'29.689 0.928 0.035 247.816
11 Australia Oscar Piastri 1'29.706 0.945 0.017 247.769
12 France Esteban Ocon 1'29.707 0.946 0.001 247.766
13 Denmark Kevin Magnussen 1'29.744 0.983 0.037 247.664
14 France Pierre Gasly 1'29.890 1.129 0.146 247.262
15 Finland Valtteri Bottas 1'29.929 1.168 0.039 247.154
16 Japan Yuki Tsunoda 1'29.939 1.178 0.010 247.127
17 Thailand Alex Albon 1'29.994 1.233 0.055 246.976
18 Netherlands Nyck de Vries 1'30.244 1.483 0.250 246.292
19 United Kingdom Lando Norris 1'30.447 1.686 0.203 245.739
20 United States Logan Sargeant 2'08.510 39.749 38.063 172.954

What happened in Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Q2?

Alonso set the initial pace at 1m28.757s, three tenths ahead of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.

Verstappen bailed out of his first flying lap after getting crossed up, but then suffered a driveshaft failure on his second push lap that sent him limping to the pits and out of the session.

Perez lapped a tenth off Alonso to take P2, ahead of Leclerc. Perez ran again at the end and produced 1m28.635s to top the session by 0.122s.

Knocked out at this point were Nico Hulkenberg (Haas), Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo), Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) and, shockingly, Verstappen.

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Q2 results: Perez fastest from Alonso

Cla Driver Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Mexico Sergio Perez 1'28.635     250.763
2 Spain Fernando Alonso 1'28.757 0.122 0.122 250.418
3 Monaco Charles Leclerc 1'28.903 0.268 0.146 250.007
4 Spain Carlos Sainz 1'28.957 0.322 0.054 249.855
5 Canada Lance Stroll 1'28.962 0.327 0.005 249.841
6 United Kingdom George Russell 1'29.132 0.497 0.170 249.364
7 France Esteban Ocon 1'29.255 0.620 0.123 249.021
8 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 1'29.374 0.739 0.119 248.689
9 Australia Oscar Piastri 1'29.378 0.743 0.004 248.678
10 France Pierre Gasly 1'29.411 0.776 0.033 248.586
11 Germany Nico Hulkenberg 1'29.451 0.816 0.040 248.475
12 China Zhou Guanyu 1'29.461 0.826 0.010 248.447
13 Denmark Kevin Magnussen 1'29.517 0.882 0.056 248.292
14 Finland Valtteri Bottas 1'29.668 1.033 0.151 247.874
15 Netherlands Max Verstappen 1'49.953 21.318 20.285 202.144

What happened in Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Q3?

On the first runs, Alonso set the benchmark at 1m28.925s before Leclerc lapped in 1m28.757s, pipping him by 0.168s. Russell briefly took P2 for Mercedes, 0.115s off Leclerc, before Perez slammed in a 1m28.265s to take provisional pole by almost half a second.

On the final runs, Alonso jumped back to P2, but Leclerc responded to grab the position back, 0.155s off Perez – which means a P12 start thanks to his 10-place grid penalty.

Alonso will start second on the grid, ahead of Russell, Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine).

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Q3 results: Perez takes pole

Cla Driver Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Mexico Sergio Perez 1'28.265     251.814
2 Monaco Charles Leclerc 1'28.420 0.155 0.155 251.372
3 Spain Fernando Alonso 1'28.730 0.465 0.310 250.494
4 United Kingdom George Russell 1'28.857 0.592 0.127 250.136
5 Spain Carlos Sainz 1'28.931 0.666 0.074 249.928
6 Canada Lance Stroll 1'28.945 0.680 0.014 249.889
7 France Esteban Ocon 1'29.078 0.813 0.133 249.516
8 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 1'29.223 0.958 0.145 249.110
9 Australia Oscar Piastri 1'29.243 0.978 0.020 249.054
10 France Pierre Gasly 1'29.357 1.092 0.114 248.737
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